Seth Rogen is in early talks to play the Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in a high profile biopic of Steve Jobs, according to the Hollywood Reporter.Christian Bale is in line to play Jobs himself, the famed technology guru who died on 5 October 2011 of cancer. The Oscar-winning writer of Facebook movie The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin, is writing the screenplay for Britain’s Danny Boyle to direct.

Rogen’s appointment is said to be in no way a done deal, especially given that Bale has not yet signed on the dotted line. The Canadian star of This Is the End and Neighbours is best known for his work in comedic fare, and would be taking a rare step into the dramatic spotlight with the untitled biopic.

Christian Bale , who is set to play Steve Jobs. Photograph: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Sorkin’s take is effectively the “official” Jobs biopic, since it adapts the bestselling official biography of the technology icon, Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography. Isaacson’s book is based on more than 40 interviews with its subject conducted over two years, as well as interviews with more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors and colleagues.A rival biopic, titled Jobs, was released in 2013 with Ashton Kutcher as the Apple founder and Josh Gad as Wozniak. It received mostly negative reviews and was not a hit at the box office.